This film is as tense as anything. There is a genuine sense of oncoming doom throughout; the trailer boldly states "If these people die, they die badly" and you believe it. The general throng of Iranians that we see throughout the film serve as the antagonists, and one could decry that as racist were it not for the fact that this film is based on a true story. And the actors playing the 'house guests' (i.e. the Americans in hiding) really do give you the impression of people scared out of their wits- they seem terrified for their lives, and so the audience feels it, too.
Ben Affleck, too, gives a fine performance as Tony Mendez; he's suitably reserved to be an FBI agent while still cluing the audience in to the gravity of the situations playing out on screen. He also displays some good comedic timing during the Hollywood sequences.
Which brings me nicely to the other section of the film, which is not quite so tense but is laugh out loud funny. Mr. Affleck goes to Hollywood and sets up a fake production company with John Goodman and Alan Arkin. It is really, really good satire of an industry that (from WAY outside, at least) seems rife with contradictions and stupidity. Goodman is lovable and funny, which must have been a real stretch for him. And what I love about this portion of the film is that it proves that films about serious situations, real-life stories and touchy subjects can still have humor and a bit of levity. This film put time into its script and allowed itself some zingers, and that improves it no end.
But back to the military stuff; as I mentioned in my Zero Dark Thirty review, this film takes some very obvious liberties with its climax. Not wanting to give anything away, I'll just say it's blatant, but I didn't care, because it was thrilling. The sense of impending tragedy, which has gestated throughout, suddenly blossoms into a deadly but beautiful man-eating plant in the end, which towers above the likes of other 'true-to-life' movies and challenges the next director to take on such a story to do so with half as much panache.
But, yet again, I can't just gush at this picture- it's not perfect. For one thing, they never discuss the morality of what the Americans are doing by protecting the Shah: it's just kind of waved away as the 'right thing to do' with nary a thought given to the people he oppressed and maybe giving them some form of justice. And, sadly, this film doesn't have much for the women to do (there are actually a number of named female characters, Ms. Bechdel, but none of them play particularly essential roles narrative-wise), so ZDT wins out in that respect. Naturally, both these flaws stem to a degree from the fact that this story is based on facts and the actions of real people and not fictional characters under the control of a writer, but since embellishments were already made, I have to call them out on it and say they could've taken some license with events. Still, these are flaws in the film's ethics, and are, obviously, up to debate with the audience's own personal views on morality.
It really is worth watching, if only as a political/espionage thriller with some awesome performances and a few jabs at old Hollywood thrown in for good measure.
P.S. My other nomination for Best Actress in an Utterly Minor Role goes to Sheila Vand, who plays the housekeeper Sahar; she has, at my count, five lines, and delivers each one with a real dramatic intensity that amps up the tension of any scene she's in.
P.P.S. I swear the opening narration is done by Marjane Satrapi, who wrote Persepolis. No narrator is credited on IMDB, but that's a pretty cool cameo to have, in my opinion.
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